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Information - US5 The International Polar Year 2007-2008
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Event Information |
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In 2007 it will be 50 years since the memorable achievements of International Geophysical Year (1957-58). This global programme, involving 67 countries, produced unprecedented exploration and discoveries in many fields of research and importantly, it fundamentally changed how science was conducted in the polar regions. Fifty years on, technological developments such as earth observation satellites, autonomous vehicles and molecular biology techniques offer enormous opportunities for a further quantum step upwards in our understanding of polar systems. With the sponsorship of both the International Council of Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) it is planned mark this anniversary with a new international programme focussed on the polar regions. It is envisioned that the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 will be an intense, internationally coordinated campaign of research that will initiate a new era in polar science. IPY 2007-2008 will include research in both polar regions and recognise the strong links these regions have with the rest of the globe. It will involve a wide range of research disciplines, including the social sciences, but the emphasis will be interdisciplinary in its approach and truly international in participation. As was the case in IGY, a number of free-standing initiatives, including the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) and the Electronic Geophysical Year (e-GY) have been encompassed by the IPY umbrella and will run in parallel with its programme. Significant synergies are anticipated through the interaction of these programmes. An IPY in 2007-2008 will also afford a great opportunity to engage the upcoming generation of young Earth System scientists and to get the public to realize just how much the cold ends of the sphere we all live on really do influence us. In this context IPY 2007-2008 is timely to build on the striking evidence of Arctic climate change recently published by ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) .
To date over 30 nations have established national IPY committees and thousands of scientists in these countries are actively developing research plans to meet the challenge of IPY 2007-2008. This EGU Union symposium will outline the state of play regarding IPY 2007-2008 planning, provide a showcase for a selection of the large projects evolving at this time and to get an update on how related programmes, including IHY and e-GY, are developing their proposed activities.
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